KABUL – Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a four-star American general with a long history in special operations, took charge of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan on Monday, a change of command the Pentagon hopes will turn the tide in an increasingly violent eight-year war.

McChrystal took command from Gen. David McKiernan during a low-key ceremony at the heavily fortified headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in central Kabul. McKiernan was fired last month by Defense Secretary Robert Gates one year into a two-year assignment.

McChrystal will command the largest international force ever in Afghanistan. A record 56,000 U.S. troops are in the country, alongside 32,000 forces from 41 other countries.

Iraqi FM: Economic Crisis Could Affect U.S. Troops

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Hoshyar Zebari — Iraq’s foreign minister says “there is a new world now” because of the global financial crisis and he hopes it won’t lead to an immediate withdrawal of the 146,000 American troops in his country.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Iraqi Foreign MinisterHoshyar Zebari said a precipitous withdrawal could have consequences for the country and the region that everyone would regret afterward.

He said he didn’t have any indications that the U.S. administration was thinking about pushing for a speedier exit from Iraq because of the financial meltdown.

“But this is the logic of the dance,” Zebari told the AP on Friday. “Nobody anticipated this major crisis, and still there are ongoing efforts to overcome it.”

“This has nothing to do with liking this administration or that administration, or this president or that president”.

Asked whether he was concerned that the current financial crisis might lead the U.S. government to push for a speedier exit than Iraq might want, as a cost-saving measure, Zebari said: “I don’t know.” (MCAULEYSWORLD COMMENT: Thats right – the IRAQIS don’t want the US to leave now)

“We hope it would not have a dramatic impact to cause … drastic and calculated decisions that everybody would regret afterwards,” he said.

By drastic and calculated, was he referring to an immediate withdrawal?

“Exactly, immediate precipitous withdrawal irrespective of any consequences,” Zebari said. “I think there is high stakes for everybody involved in the region, that every administration will take account of.”

Zebari described the security situation in Iraq as “fragile.”

“We’ve turned the corner against terrorism, against preventing the country from falling into civil war or sectarian war or division. I think we’ve passed that,” he said.

But he said the security gains must be augmented by political reconciliation, economic benefits for the people, provision of services and better governance.

“And the pace is slow, as you’ve seen in the past, so that’s why people think they are not solid enough and they could be reversed.”

Senator Biden once called for a Plan to Partition or divide Iraq into three separate Countries. The Plan was, naturally enough, trashed. The Iraqis, and I do mean ALL THE IRAQI’S, all parties, all sides, even al-Queda, called the plan a bad idea.

Biden was even called an Imperialist (as insults go – it doesn’t get any worse in the middle east).

Biden’s response to the universal rejection of his plan, “Who the Hell do they think they are?”. Well the answer is – they are the Iraqi’s – it is their Country. They want to keep it in one piece. Biden just couldn’t let it go …….

Can someone remind the Senator that his plan was rejected – it really was a stinker. Wait till tomorrow to let him know that FDR wasn’t the President during the Great Depression and TV’s hadn’t been invented at the time. You know ….. bring him up to speed a little bit at a time.